MOIRA SMILEY
Performer
Singer / Composer Moira Smiley has toured the world and recorded with Indie-pop favorites, Tuneyards, performing with them on all the late-night TV shows (Kimmel, Colbert, Conan O’Brien, UK’s Jools Holland, etc.) and recently to re-open David Geffen Hall at Lincoln Center in NYC with Chris Thile, Hilary Hahn and Brad Mehldau. She began her singing career in Baroque and Medieval music, collaborating with Paul Hillier, Fretless Consort of Viols, Dufay Collective and Sinfonye, BBC Singers and New World Symphony. As a folksinger, she’s fronted the legendary Irish-American supergroup, Solas as well as the Lomax and Folklife Projects produced by Jayme Stone, and continues to lead her own vocal collaborations as VOCO and The Voice Is A Traveler.
As a composer, she’s premiered works alongside Eric Whitacre, Morten Lauridsen, Shara Nova, Rollo Dilworth, Reena Esmail and many others. Moira has been featured in TED conferences, on BBC Radio and TV, NPR, ABC Australia, and live at countless venues from Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall to Walt Disney Concert Hall and Royal Festival Hall. She brings vivid, embodied singing to stages tiny and grand, atop glaciers or in cozy kitchens from Taiwan to Tasmania.
Moira’s 2018 solo album ‘Unzip The Horizon’ premiered at the prestigious Savannah Music Festival in 2018, and she published its companion choral Songbook in 2019. In February of 2021, she released her vocal album ‘In Our Voices’, featuring international VOCO collaborators. A new album of folksongs with string quartet, ‘The Rhizome Project’ will be released in 2024.
“I’m so thankful I’ve had the privilege of performing and recording with Moira. She embodies the endless creative potential of the voice, and… (has made) a deeply moving body of work.”
Videos
“Some of the most captivating music you’ll hear from some of the sparest ingredients.”
Collaborations
Moira Smiley & VOCO: Named the #1 a capella group in the US in 2007, Moira Smiley + VOCO is an extraodinary touring group of wildy gifted singers and songwriters lighting up stages with improvisation, body percussion, and modal folk melodies. Sought after for teaching residencies and innovative performances, VOCO will be on tour in North America in March, 2020. More Info
Seamus Egan Project: Legendary Irish musician, multi-instrumentalist and composer Seamus Egan, founder of the pre-eminent band Solas, has inspired generations of musicians and helped to define the sound of Irish music today. The Seamus Egan Project is making music that points towards the origins of Solas in the 1990s. More Info
“World folk fans, take note: moira smiley & VOCO harness high-voltage harmonies with Smiley’s signature vocal arrangements. Not afraid to mix Bartok with street-singing – a genre-bending world tour of rootsy tunes. EXPECT GOOSEBUMPS.”